On Day 1 of European Take-Down Site, Google Hit by Wave of Requests

Google received more than 12,000 requests in Europe from individuals looking to delete certain search results linked to their own name in the initial hours after posting an online form to take the requests, a person familiar with the matter said as the sun began to set across the continent. The rate hit 20 requests per minute, the person added.

The wave compares to just “low thousands” of requests from Google users since the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice endorsed the so-called right to be forgotten two weeks ago—but before any specialized form was available for users to make their requests, the person said. That form became available Friday.

The crush of take-down requests is one of the first broad examples of how intense the demand may be among Europeans looking to remove content about themselves from the Internet—a key factor in whether the court’s ruling will be workable, observers have said.

“The EU proposal and Google’s response in setting up a ‘right to be forgotten’ form, are fraught with difficulties and will be impossible to implement,” said the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a UK-based trade group.

As part of the ruling, the ECJ—Europe’s top court—said individuals can request Google and other search engines to take down links to personal information that those individuals deem no longer relevant or a violation of their privacy. But it specifically said Google should balance between a right to privacy and the public interest in a right to know, though it offered few specific guidelines.

People close to Google have said that the practicability of the ruling, and the number of people Google might have to hire to make that judgement call for each request, would depend on the number it receives.

Late Friday, Yahoo Inc. said that it, like Google, is also “in the process of developing a solution for Yahoo users in Europe that we believe balances the important privacy and freedom of expression interests.”